City Council of Helsinki

City Council of Helsinki Helsingin kaupunginvaltuusto Helsingfors stadsfullmäktige
History
Founded	1873
Leadership
Chairperson	Reetta Vanhanen, Green League
First Deputy Chairperson	Wille Rydman, Finns Party
Second Deputy Chairperson	Pilvi Torsti, Social Democratic Party
Structure
Seats	85
Political groups	KOK (23)   VIHR (18)   SDP (13)   VAS (11)   PS (9)   SFP (5)   LIIK (3)   KESK (2)   KD (1)
Length of term	4 years
Elections
Last election	June 13, 2021
Meeting place
Helsinki City Hall
Website
www.hel.fi/helsinki/en/administration/decision/council/

The City Council of Helsinki (Finnish: Helsingin kaupunginvaltuusto [ˈhelsiŋːin ˈkɑu̯puŋːinˌʋɑltuːsto], Swedish: Helsingfors stadsfullmäktige) is the main decision-making organ in the local politics of Helsinki, Finland.^[1] The City Council deals with issues such as city planning, schools, health care, and public transport.

The 85-seat Council's members are elected every four years in municipal elections. The seat of the Council is the Helsinki City Hall, which overlooks Market Square in central Helsinki.

Historically, the center-right National Coalition Party has been the largest player in Helsinki's local politics, with the center-left Social Democratic Party being the second largest. However, since the 2000 elections, the position of the Social Democrats has been challenged by the Green League, for which Helsinki is the strongest area of support nationally, with the former party becoming the second-largest in only the 2008 elections. As of 2021, the second-largest and third-largest parties in the Council are the Green League and the Social Democrats respectively.

The Left Alliance is the Council's fourth-largest party while the Finns are the fifth-largest. The Swedish People's Party is sixth, with the party's support on a steady decline over the years; this can be attributed to the diminishing proportion of Swedish speakers in Helsinki. The agrarian Centre Party, despite being one of the major parties in national politics, has limited support in Helsinki. This is because there are very few farmers in Helsinki.